I was knocked up by the ML and currently running away.

Chapter 51.5 (Part 2) Eugene (Side Story)

What the hell is this place? Am I dreaming? When did I fall asleep?

Eugene was bewildered.

Suddenly, he heard a loud sound that was similar to an alarm.

An AI-like monotonous voice shortly followed.

- An unexpected error was found. A foreign entity has entered the system. Analyzing...

Eugene looked around him.

It was an empty space. Everything was pure white. But occasionally he saw weird letters and symbols appearing and disappearing midair all around him.

They looked more similar to computer codes in a programming tool, written vertically. There was a buzzing noise every time the codes appeared and disappeared.

- Analyzing failed. Re-analyzing...

The robotic voice echoed in space again.

- Analyzing in progress... Soul detected inside the foreign entity. The foreign entity is identified as physical body. Initializing soul integration. Unable to integrate soul into the system. The soul is fused with the physical body originating from World 3. Attempt to eject. Failed. Reattempt to eject. Failed.

While Eugene was still confused, the androgynous monotone voice continued.

- Error. Unable to eject the soul from the physical body. Troubleshooting. Analyzing soul property.

"Hey! What the hell?"

Eugene quickly grasped the situation. The AI or whatever it was was trying to separate his body and soul. And this space is definitely not Earth.

- Soul analysis completed. SSPI is 97%. Number of reincarnation: 0. Possible causes of error identifie-

"Hey! What's SSPI?"

Eugene decided to speak to the voice. But he didn't expect it to answer his question for real.

- SSPI. Soul and System Purity Index. It determined the purity of the soul and the number of reincarnations the soul already had. Newly created souls have a purity of 100% before they are incarnated to one of the 10 worlds managed by the system. SSPI of souls suitable for reincarnation ranges between 20% to 90%. Souls with SSPI of less than 20% are incompatible for reincarnation and will be absorbed into the system indefinitely.

"What the hell does that mean? Hey, am I dead? Will I reincarnate?"

- Defining "dead". Souls that left their physical bodies and returned to the system. Since the soul is still embedded in the physical body, you are not dead. Because of this error, the system is unable to integrate the soul into the reincarnation system since the soul and body are fused. Troubleshooting in progress.

"So, I'm supposed to be dead since my soul 'returned to the system', but I'm not really dead, because my physical body followed along?"

- Affirmative.

"So, can I go back to my own world?"

- Technically, yes. But because of the different time flow of the system and your original world, as we speak, 49 years 10 months, 23 days, 4 hours, and 31 minutes have passed in World 3. Do you wish to go back?

"No."

Eugene shook his head. Returning to his original world is pointless now. He is as good as dead now.

Right now, he is just a body suspended in an infinite space talking to an artificial intelligence-like existence.

Somehow, he accepted the truth easier than he thought. Maybe it was because he doesn't have any attachment left in that world anymore.

"Hey, are you a God?"

- Defining "Gods". Existences that are objects of worship in various worlds. Comes in various forms and abilities. The system doesn't fit into the definition. The system consists of concentrated mana and data that is responsible for managing reincarnations of souls, causes, and effects of a total of 10 worlds.

"Hm, that's basically god-like already..."

Eugene mumbled.

"So, why did I end up here in the first place?"

- Problem identified. The soul was a newly created soul that strongly desired to return to the system even when it is not the right time yet.

"I don't understand. Please explain more."

- Newly created souls have a very high concentration of mana, similar to the system. They are strong souls with high perseverant ability in the worlds they reside so they will never return before the SSPI fall below 90%. This is the first incident of the exception. There is no data to compare. The system analysis has formulated 27419 hypotheses. Hypotheses testing is still in progress. For the first hypothesis, the soul was too-

"Hold on. Stop. Stop! Stop talking!"

Eugene shouted until the system stopped explaining.

He was genuinely interested to know more, but some things are more important to him.

Before he came to this space, he was strongly wishing for something. And he thought it was an impossible dream.

But now he is somehow sucked into the space that claimed to manage reincarnations, his hope might not be in vain.

"You said you manage the reincarnations of souls, right? Can you tell me more about it?"

It might be because the so-called "system" never had a conversation partner before, it seemed more than happy to answer Eugene's questions.

Eugene spent an indefinite amount of time asking it question after question.

The system piqued his interest and curiosity. It's been a long time since he felt this way. The feeling of excitement upon learning about new knowledge that was never discovered before.

After asking everything he had in mind and gaining a novel understanding of the system operation, he smiled as he made a summary in his mind.

A soul will never reincarnate to its old world, but it will go to another world according to a cycle. Soul from World 3 will reincarnate to World 4 next, then to World 5, World 6, and so on. But before reincarnation, it will be integrated into the system for an amount of time. The process is called "cleaning", where all the memories of its old life and world are erased. There is a 2% probability that it may retain the memory of its previous life. There's also a 0.01% probability that extra knowledge from the system taints the souls.

Eugene engraved all the facts in his photographic memory. But those facts are not that important.

What was important was the fact that his mother's soul is still integrated with the system for the "cleaning" process, which is why he ended up here after the desperate wish he made. And another important fact was he can be transported to the world where his mother would be reborn into.

According to the system, since he entered the system, his body and soul were already fused into one, so the physical body can't age anymore. It's possible to wait even if it takes a millennium.

- The system received your request. Calculating the time from your arrival until the said soul reincarnation. Estimated between 200 to 300 years. Do you still wish to go to World 4?

"Yes, of course."

- Affirmative. The system will send you to World 4.

Eugene felt the familiar feeling of heaviness as if he was sucked into a black hole.

He can hear the AI-like monotonous voice that he grew fond of, giving him the same warnings again.

- Do not interfere with the soul's new life. Do not change the world too much. The existence of the system should be kept secret.

Then, he lost consciousness.

===================

double update today! (≧▽≦). Part 3 will be published within this week. We'll back to the main story after that.

Happy reading!